Here's chapter three and please review. Reminder that I don't own the Lion King, Disney does.

Specials thanks to the following for reviewing: Asaf, BlackLouie, Doclover, CSIMentalistTLK lover, and ThatTexasKid.

A few more reviews would be nice…:)

"Simba?" Nala asked, shock seeing her former friend after all these years.

Simba nodded with a smirk. He figured that she was doing her solo hunt since she was determined to make a good kill.

Simba himself was also on his solo hunt. Although it was the tradition for only lionesses to have their solo hunt, it was a law that the heir whether they are male or female to also have a solo hunt to prove to the Pride that they were capable of taking care of them.

"Now if you don't mind," Simba said. "I have to get my kill!" The zebra had managed to get back onto shore and began running.

"You mean my kill!" Nala growled and threw Simba away with much more force than Simba expected.

Winded from the impact of the blow, Simba landed on the banks of the river panting for his breath. He looked and saw Nala sprinting after the zebra on his side of the river.

Simba got onto his feet and charged after her.

"You know if I tell my father that you're on our lands you're going to be in big trouble!" Simba called.

Nala whipped her head back towards him. "Yes but I doubt you want to tell your father that you lost a kill to a lioness!"

Simba bit his lip to keep from laughing. She was definitely feisty. And smart.

The zebra was heading towards the Outlands and Nala refused to give up on it and let Simba win. She knew that Simba wouldn't either.

Nala continued the chase into the Outlands. After a few minutes she heard Simba's voice calling out to her.

"Hey you're heading into the Outlands!" Simba called.

Nala stopped the chase, panting for her breath. "I'm not giving up on my first kill!"

"I'm not either but we are heading into the Outlands and the dangers here are uncertain." Simba said.

"Why do you care if I go or not?" Nala demanded narrowing her eyes at him.

Simba smirked. "I would hate to have to tell your father that his precious Princess perished in the Outlands."

"I'm not going to perish in the Outlands." Nala hissed. "I'm going to get that kill even if it's the last thing I do." She turned and charged ahead. It would be easy to spot the zebra. Surely it wouldn't have gone far and it was open land in the Outlands which would make it easier to find.

After about an hour, Nala had brought down the zebra. She looked at her first solo kill with pride. It was one of the biggest solo hunts that they had had in years.

Nala grabbed the zebra and began hauling it back home. She figured that Simba had given up already. She had only gone about teen feet when she heard the laugh of hyenas.

Growling Nala whipped around to see a group of hyenas approaching her. She couldn't bring herself to run and leave her first kill but she knew it was risky fighting the hyenas by herself.

The hyenas lunged at her and Nala fought back, refusing to leave her first kill she had made alone. Suddenly, there was another roar that sounded like it belonged to a lion. Simba jumped onto the scene and knocked the hyenas away from her. Knowing that they couldn't fight a grown male and female the hyenas turned and high tailed away.

"You okay?" Simba asked.

"I'm fine." Nala said. "Thank you but why did you help?"

"What do you mean?" Simba asked.

"Why would you risk your life and help me?" Nala asked. "I mean we are from rival Prides and everything."

Simba grinned. "Just because I'm from the Pridelands doesn't mean that I'm heartless enough to leave a poor defenseless lioness in the Outlands." With a laugh he jumped back to avoid Nala punching him.

"Ha!" Simba laughed. "Missed me!" Nala just shook her head holding back a smile.

"Come on, why?" Nala asked.

Simba shrugged. "I was just… looking for the zebra too. I figured it would be easier just to find it here rather than go back home and track another herd. But I guess I'll have to anyways." He motioned to the kill that Nala had.

Nala looked at him. She could tell that he was somewhat lying. Another reason that he had stayed behind was to keep an eye on her. The look in his eyes told her so.

"Speaking of home," Nala said. "Do you happen to know where home is?" The hunt in the Outlands had led both of them far away from the borders of their territories.

Simba cursed under his breath. "Dammit I was so caught up in the hunt that I didn't even care about finding a way back home!"

Nala looked up to see the sun setting. She sighed knowing that once it got dark it was too dangerous to move around. She knew that her parents were probably worried by now.

"May as well settle down for the night," Nala muttered. "No use in trying to look for the borders now."

"I guess," Simba sighed. He looked at her. Was he supposed to stay with her? Or should he leave? He knew that Ariya would flip if she found out that they were in the Outlands together.

But Simba knew he should stay. It was the right thing to do no matter what their differences were.

"Simba!" Nala called from where she had managed to find a large rock that would make good enough shelter. "Want some meat?"

"Nala, no." Simba said. "Thank you but it's your first kill."

"It's fine." Nala said, biting her lips to keep from smiling. "Besides, I kind of owe you the favor for saving my life."

"Is that a smile I see?" Simba grinned, raising his eyebrows and Nala rolled her eyes. "Don't make me regret it!"

"I won't." Simba chuckled and both of them fed from the carcass. Once they were done, Simba looked around desperately trying to find a way back home although he knew he would have a better chance in the morning. He thought that Nala was doing the same until he turned around and saw her grooming herself.

"Are you serious?!" Simba exclaimed.

"What?" Nala asked.

"Why is it that you females always need to stay clean?" Simba asked.

"Why is that you males must always stay dirty?" Nala retorted.

"Whatever," Simba shrugged. "I'm going to find a place to sleep. Night."

Nala didn't say anything as he went of the find a shelter of his own but she was pretty sure that he would end up sleeping on the other side of the rock.

Her mind wandered back to her parents. Surely they would have started searching for her by now. Perhaps Asante's Pride had already heard of the news. She sincerely hoped that they wouldn't assume that she was dead and find Thresh another mate.

Although the idea of Thresh mating with another lioness didn't bother her, the idea of her father losing his end of the deal and her Pride losing the territory that they were promised did bother her. Nala would do anything to help her Pride.

Her walk with Thresh had been nice but she had found out that they had nothing in common. They had talked about their hobbies and interests but none of them were really the same.

Nala was blunt while Thresh seemed to approach things slowly.

Nala hated others making decisions for her but Thresh didn't mind.

Nala liked being around others all the time but Thresh preferred peace and quiet to himself.

Nala loved sleeping outside the den while Thresh loved sleeping inside the den.

Nala hated swimming while Thresh liked it.

Nala had at least hoped that they would have some things in common but they didn't. But Nala knew that it was her responsibility. Besides, she wasn't interested in any males from her Pride so it didn't really matter.

With these final thoughts, Nala closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

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Meanwhile back in the Outlands, Mufasa had gathered the rest of the Pride after the search parties had come back with no news of Simba.

He felt sick with worry. What if something had happened to him while hunting? Akila had braved the risks of being spotted by the River Pride and had quickly scouted the other side of the river and had hurried back when he was done but hadn't reported any signs of his older brother.

"As you all know," Mufasa began. "Simba has not returned yet and not any search parties have had any luck in finding them. I can now only assume that he has injured himself somewhere and is waiting for us to find him. However, searching in the dark will give us no help. The moon isn't even out fully tonight. We will search for him tomorrow early morning and bring him back to Priderock. For now all I want is for everyone to get some sleep so we can search for him tomorrow."

The Pride nodded with murmurs and whispers and began heading back into the dens.

Sarabi was near tears. What if something had happened to her oldest son? She wouldn't be able to live if Simba died. She felt Mufasa guiding her into the den and she had no energy to protest.

Akila collapsed down with a sigh. After a few minutes, Malaika joined him.

"Akila, we'll find him. Simba's strong and smart. He'll be okay." Malaika said

"I know," Akila murmured. "But if something happens to him…I will never forgive myself."

Malaika nuzzled him. "Everything will be alright. Just have faith." Akila just nodded.

"I'm going to sleep now." Malaika said, giving his cheek a lick and Akila rubbed his muzzle against hers. "Good night."

"Good night," Akila said with a small smile as she pulled back and went into the den. After a few minutes he also headed in the den for some sleep.

Meanwhile, Ariya had waited until everyone fell asleep before she snuck out of the den to meet up with another male Rojan.

"Ariya," Rojan greeted nuzzling her and Ariya gave his cheek a lick.

"We have to find Simba." Ariya said. "Tomorrow morning."

Rojan narrowed his eyes. "But I thought that you-"

"I don't have any feelings for him." Ariya assured. "But if he dies, our plans will fail."

"I know." Rojan nodded.

"After Simba and I become mates, then we can mate." Ariya said. "It won't be that hard to trick Simba into believing that the cub is actually yours and then our cub will be the heir. But none of that will happen if we don't find Simba. If he dies, Akila will take the throne and Malaika will be his Queen."

Rojan smiled and rubbed his muzzle against hers. "You my dear are a genius."

Ariya gave him another nuzzle with a smile. "Let's go back to Priderock now."

Rojan nodded and they headed back.

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Back at the River Pride, Sarafina and Runju were both devastated.

"Runju what if something happened to her?" Sarafina whispered. "There are so many dangers and…"
"We're going to find her," Runju assured but he had to hide the worry in his voice. He knew that Nala had been determined to get a kill and his biggest fear was that had been her downfall.

"The search parties didn't even come back with a sign of her," Sarafina said. "What could have happened?"

"We're going to find her." Runju said. "I won't stop until we do."

Sorry if there's not much action in this chapter but the next one will be very exciting. I promise. Please remember to leave a review.